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VIDEO: West Cumbrian teen film maker wins award

A Great Broughton teenager has won a prestigious regional award for a short film he shot in West Cumbria.

Lee Rielly

Lee Rielly, 16, of Coldgill Avenue, won the Royal Television Society award at a ceremony at the University of Sunderland this month.

He was presented with it by TV presenter Kirsten O’Brien.

The awards were split into three categories of drama, factual and entertainment and were open to students in the North East and Cumbria aged between 14 and 19.

Lee’s entry, which was up against around 20 others, was a two-minute film called Goodbye Dad which told of a young boy, Sam, who scattered his father’s ashes at a place where they fished as father and son.

He filmed the scenes beside the River Derwent in his home village.

His friend Ryan Foster, 15, a pupil at Cockermouth School, played the part of the boy. He was mentioned in the award citation for his acting.

Lee said: “Winning the award was definitely a big boost and given me confidence to try more experimental things.

“It has given me a taste of what life could be like if I make it as a successful director.

“I have received interest and good comments and I know I can top that film so this has made me more determined to do it.

“The storyline was something that just came to me.

“Ryan has had no previous acting experience before but was just someone I knew from school and thought he would be perfect for the role.

“I don’t think he was too happy about it being released publicly at first, but since we have won the award he has been more open about it and is quite proud.”

Lee is on a film-making course at Carlisle College of Arts and wants to go into directing films in the future.

He said it took him four days to plan and shoot Goodbye Dad and a night to edit it.

He added: “I have been creating short films with friends as a laugh, but in the past year I have been taking it a lot more seriously.

“When I started on the course at college I realised that there was a lot to learn and that directing is quite a big profession.

“Making films with friends gave me a kick start and I loved doing it so much I thought I could make a career out of it.

“When I first started editing I thought that was for me but after making these films I know I want to direct.

“I love it and it is all I talk about.”

Lee is hoping to make a feature-length horror film between 70 and 90 minutes long by August that could be released in October.

It tells of a young boy who is sent to live with his aunt and uncle after his parents die in a car crash.

When he goes to live with them things start happening in the house and there is more to the caretaker’s life than he lets on.

Lee has nearly finished writing the script and has posted details about it online so people will hopefully come forward and help fund it.

He said he has already had interest from a couple of people wanting to appear in it and will hold auditions.

He added: “When it is finished I can hopefully share it on sites like Facebook as well as distribute it.”